East Region 1 Central | View Brackets | Watch the Selection Show

The UMass Lowell softball team, in the midst of one of its best seasons in school history with a 33-16 record, received the No. 5 seed for the NCAA Tournament East Regional, the NCAA announced Monday morning.

UMass Lowell will face No. 4 Caldwell College (37-14) in Game Two Friday afternoon at 2:30 at Yale University's DeWitt Family Field. No. 1 seed and tournament host Southern Connecticut State (37-10) will face No. 8 Assumption College (33-16) in Game One at 12:00.

In a double elimination format, the winning teams from Friday's games meet Saturday at 11:00 while the losing teams meet at 1:30 (see schedule below).

Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for students (with valid identification) and senior citizens.

UMass Lowell, which tied the school record for wins in the regular season (33) this year, makes its fifth all-time appearance in the NCAAs and first showing since the 2007, when the River Hawks advanced to the East Region semifinal round at C.W. Post.

In the other East Region bracket in Brookville, N.Y., host and No. 3 seed C.W. Post (37-20) meets No. 6 Dominican College at 1:00 while No. 2 Molloy College (42-10) faces No. 7 Adelphi (34-18-1) at 3:30.

“What got us in was our body of work over the course of 49 games,” said head coach Sean Cotter. “Early on we had wins over Lock Haven (6-1) and Molloy (3-4, 4-0). In the middle of the season, we swept Dominican (8-0, 11-9), and in the end we won two against Assumption (2-0, 4-2).

“I think we are an entire team,” Cotter added. “It hasn't been just one person or just one game. And I'm glad the committee saw that.”

The bid is especially sweet since the River Hawks finished the 2011 season with a 34-20 record and ranked No. 8 in the East Region poll, but fell short of making the cut for NCAAs.

UMass Lowell is 8-6 against teams in the 2012 NCAA Tournament field and 6-4 against East Regional foes. The River Hawks were particularly strong in the middle of its schedule when they went on a 22-game stretch in which they won 18 games, including the pair at Dominican and a split with Adelphi (1-3, 7-5).

The River Hawks ended the regular season with the pivotal sweep of Assumption on Apr. 21.

UMass Lowell meets a Caldwell team which suffered two losses to open the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament, but went 37-12 in the regular season and finished 21-5 in the CACC, good for second place behind Dominican.

UMass Lowell and Caldwell have nine common opponents this season, against which the River Hawks have gone 11-8 and the Cougars 8-9.

“Caldwell is very similar to us,” said Cotter. “They're very offensive, they run the bases. Coach (Dean) Johnson does an incredible job running his team.

“It comes down to who plays better,” Cotter added. “Everyone at this point has worked incredibly hard to be there. It's just going to come down to who executes better.”

The winners from the East Region 1 and 2 brackets advance to the NCAA Tournament Super Regional May 11-12 at a site and time to be determined.

 
NCAA Division II Softball East Regional Schedule – Site I
at DeWitt Family Field, New Haven, Conn.


Friday, May 4
Game 1 - No. 1 Southern Connecticut State vs. No. 8 Assumption – 12 p.m.
Game 2 - No. 4 Caldwell vs. No. 5 UMass-Lowell – 2:30 p.m.

Saturday, May 5
Game 3 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 – 11 a.m.
Game 4 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 – 1:30 p.m.
Game 5 – Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3 – 4 p.m.

Sunday, May 6
Game 6 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5 – 12 p.m.
Game 7 (if necessary) – 2:30 p.m.